4 rescued as training plane crashes in Zamboanga City coastal waters
A passenger is rescued after a Piper PA-34 Seneca private plane crashed in the waters of Barangay Sinunuc, Zamboanga City on Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Courtesy of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — Four were rescued after a private plane made an emergency landing in the coastal waters of Barangay Sinunuc, Zamboanga City —around 9.4 kilometers from the main town center — on Tuesday.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the aircraft of Royhle Flight Training Academy in Dumaguete City, a Piper PA-34 Seneca private plane, took off from the Zamboanga Airport at 9:38 a.m. and was bound for the Dumaguete Airport.
The aircraft’s pilot then decided that the plane will make an emergency landing after the left engine failed a few minutes after it took off from the airport.
Colonel John Divinagracia, commander of Joint Task Force Zamboanga, said all the passengers and aircraft crew are safe. Three of the four onboard are foreign nationals.
Divinagracia identified the four as Suramya Khanal, 28, Nepalese, a student pilot; Jyothis John Pulinthanam, 27, aircraft pilot; Jemy Chacko Domen, 34, aircraft instructor; and Razel Dulay, 27, an aircraft mechanic.
Khanal is a Nepalese, while Pulinthanam and Domen are Indians.
A passenger is rescued after a Piper PA-34 Seneca private plane crashed in the waters of Barangay Sinunuc, Zamboanga City on Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Courtesy of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines
Pilarica Ledesma, Sinunuc barangay chair, told the INQUIRER that they heard a loud crash and when their people checked, they saw the aircraft submerged in water, some two meters from the baywalk.
Ledesma said all the four people inside the plane were okay and they saw no oil spill on the water.
All passengers were saved by members of the Philippine Coast Guard and incurred no injuries.
Royhle’s aircraft instructor, Captain Klint Sanchez, said the plane assisted in delivering one aircraft in the city.
“Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) investigators have been advised and tasked to help determine the cause of the accident,” the CAAP said.
